Attachment for use in connection with telephones



Feb. 13, 1934.

A. ELBOZ 1,946,617

ATTACHMENT FOR USE IN CONNECTION WITH TELEPHONES Filed June 22, 1931J/VViA/TOE Patented Feb. 13, 1934 PATENT oFFicE ATTACHMENT FOR USE INCONNECTION WITH TELEPHONES Alfred Elboz, Bristol, England ApplicationJune 22, 1931, Serial No. 546,051, and

in Great Britain June 23, 1930 2 Claims.

This invention relates to an improved disinfecting attachment fortelephone mouthpieces, and especially relates to an attachment for thispurpose of the kind comprising a cap formed with an annular recess orchamber for the reception of a disinfecting pad adapted to be applied toatelephone mouthpiece in a readily detachable manner.

According to the present invention the attach- 101 ment is of ring-likeformation and is adapted to engage over the edge of the mouthpiece andto afford an unobstructed central passage of substantial size, and theannular chamber for the reception of the disinfecting pad or the like is151 arranged to project into the mouthpiece, the wall of such centralpassage being formed with apertures so that the disinfectant in theannular chamber was direct access to such passage. The annular chamberalso may be formed with apertures in the rearwardly directed wall orwalls thereof to enable the disinfectant to penetrate directly into thetelephone mouthpiece.

The disinfecting pad or filling may be held in place in the annularchamber by means of a flanged cap having a corresponding centralaperture similar in form to the cap of a telephone earpiece.

For the purpose of holding the device in place upon the telephonemouthpiece, an elastic mem- SO ber, such as a continuous helical spring,may be stretched around a' peripheral groove in a part of the devicewhich engages over the edge of the telephone mouthpiece, two, three ormore slots being cut through such part at intervals so that 315 theelastic member projects through at the inner side of such part at suchpositions to such an extent that when the device is applied in position,the projecting portions of the spring member engage behind the lip oredge of the tele- 'Iphone mouthpiece and hold the device securely butremovably in position.

The invention is hereinafter described by way of example with referenceto the accompanying diagrammatic drawing, in which:-

45.' Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation illustrating oneconstruction of attachment according to the invention and showing how itis applied upon a. telephone mouthpiece;

I Figure 2 is a front elevation corresponding to SO-Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a rear elevation corresponding to Figure 1.

In carrying the invention into effect and with =reference to theaccompanying diagrammatic drawing, the device consists of a ring-likemember 9, formed for instance from ebonite or the like. Such member isformed with an outer ring or flange 9a adapted to engage freely over atelephone mouthpiece 2, and also with'an inner ring 92) adapted toextend into the telephone mouthpiece 2, the inner and outer rings 9a, 9bbeing connected together at the front side of the device.

The inner ring 912 is adapted to form an annular chamber or channel 90,the inner wall 911 5B of which is of cylindrical formation, while theouter wall 9e converges from front to rear and is connected to the innerwall at the rear by a narrow ring-like wall 9 the said chamber orchannel being open at the front. The inner Wall 9d is of such internaldiameter as to afford a free passage 10 to the telephone mouthpiece forthe transmission of speech. The inner and rear walls 902, 9e and 9respectively of the chamber or channel are perforated with a number of7B" apertures 11 so as to permit disinfectant vapour evolved from a pador filling '7, such as of sponge rubber soaked or impregnated with asuitable disinfecting fluid to penetrate freely into the telephonemouthpiece 2 and into the central passage 10 to disinfect the same andto protect the user from infection. The outer ring 9a is formed with aperipheral groove 99 for the reception of a continuous flexible member,such as a helical spring 12, which is stretched around such groove 9gunder tension, and, at two, three, four or more circumferentially spacedpositions, such groove 9g is slotted or out completely through the outerring 9a so that the flexible member 12 by reason of its tension,projects at the inner side of the outer ring So as shown in Figure 3, tosuch an extent as to engage at the rear of the lip or edge of thetelephone mouthpiece 2, as shown in Figure 1,,to hold the device firmlyin position, it being understood that the device is simply pushed on tothe mouthpiece 2 and pulled off as required. If desired, the outer ring9a may be made separately from the inner ring 9b, in

which case the latter would be formed at the front with an outwardlyextending flange adapted to be clamped against the front face of theouter ring by means of a flanged cap 13 screw threaded internally, theouter ring 9a, whether made separately from or integrally with the innerring 9b being screw-threaded externally to engage with such cap 13 whichis preferably of a formation similar to a telephone earpiece cap andservesto close the front of the annular chamber 9c. In place ofperforating the walls of the disinfectant chamber, one or more u of suchwalls may be constituted by or fitted with perforated metal or wiregauze.

The container above referred to is preferably of substantially flatformation so that it may be conveniently carried on the person andreadily attached to the mouthpiece of the telephone when required foruse, and detached therefrom at will. In some cases, however, such adevice may be provided permanently attached to a telephone; for examplein hotels, clubs, offices and the like, an arrangement of this kindwould be very desirable.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to theparticular details of construction hereinbefore described. Thus, anyother suitable means such as spring clips or the like may be providedfor holding the attachment in position upon the telephone mouthpiece.

Furthermore, although a material such as ebonite is preferred, thedevice may be constructed of any other suitable material.

What I claim is:-

1. An attachment for telephones comprising an annular disinfectantretainer adapted to fit within a telephone mouth piece, the front of thecontainer being open and the inner and rear walls thereof perforated, acap forming a closure for the open front of the container, an outer ringengaging the cap and provided with an internal circumferential groove,the walls of which are cut away at spaced intervals to form openings,and a resilient retaining member seated in said groove and havingportions thereof extended through the openings in the wall of the groovefor engagement with the mouth piece.

2. An attachment for telephones comprising an annular casing the frontof which is open and provided with a central opening the walls of whichare perforated, the rear wall of the casing being inclined to conform toand adapted to fit within a mouth piece, a cap detachably secured to thecasing and having an opening therein reg-'- istering with the centralopening in the casing and provided with an internally threaded flange,an outer ring engaging the threads on the flange and adapted to extendaround the outer wall of the mouth piece, said outer ring being providedwith a continuous annular roove the walls of which are cut away at.intervals to provide openings, and a coil spring seated in the grooveand having portions thereof extending through said openings andyieldably engaging the mouth piece.

ALFRED ELBOZ.

